Cernusco sul Naviglio, 12 April 2010. After the approval of the racial laws, (better known as the “security package”) there have been more and more cases in Italy of human beings been refused treatment by hospitals and doctors because they are “clandestini” (illegal immigrants) or because their NHS card has expired.

On March 3rd this year, a 13-year-old Nigerian child died in Cernusco sul Naviglio. Taken to the emergency unit in the middle of the night, seriously ill and with bouts of vomiting, the baby was discharged without even being examined by hospital staff. Just a few words were noted on the medical report: “Good general condition”.

Once outside, however, the baby's condition took a turn for the worse and her family took her back to the emergency unit. Once again she was not seen by a doctor because her father, Tommy Odiase, had not renewed his NHS card. “We cannot examine her, or admit her to hospital,” the hospital staff told the family.

“The parents, fraught with grief, have decided to take the hospital to court on the charge of manslaughter, and is being assisted by their lawyer, Marco Martinelli. It is important to ensure that justice is done” says EveryOne Group, “even if cases like these are far from rare. The legal offices of the Italian health structures seek out every means possible to deny the victims' stories (or even turn reality on its head) all with the sole aim of appearing “clean and spotless” to the Ministry of Health from where their funding comes. In the course of its work, our group has witnessed many desperate cases where vulnerable human beings have been refused medical treatment, and we have had denials and even threats from hospital staff.

The case in question remains a tragedy, the death of another innocent human being (a baby!) due to the racial laws in force in Italy - laws for which many people are responsible: the institutions that passed the laws; the parties of the opposition that sat back and did nothing to fight the measures; the press that has censored the criminal nature of these anti-constitutional, anti-democratic laws; and all those citizens who actively participate, by going along with, and even collaborating in the operations of ethnic persecution that have been underway in our country for several years”.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010, by EveryOne Group

A 13-month-old Nigerian baby dies after being refused hospital treatment